Nine of North Carolina’s 12 regular season football games last year started at either noon or 12:30. Although it’s possible that the Tar Heels could again get stuck with an abundance of early kickoffs in 2014, their fans can rejoice in the fact that it at least won’t happen for the first two games.

N.C. State, by contrast, will have to play during the heat of the late-summer afternoon for its opener against Georgia Southern on Aug. 30. The 12:30 p.m. kickoff will be televised on the Raycom ACC Network. Former Wolfpack star Mario Williams will have his jersey honored at that game.

The Wolfpack will then follow on Sept. 6 with a 6 p.m. home game against Old Dominion on ESPN3.

Duke will begin defense of its Coastal Division championship on Aug. 30 with a 6 p.m. start against Elon on ESPN3. The Blue Devils will then play a 7 p.m. road game at Troy before returning home on Sept. 13 to take on Kansas at 3:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Carolinas.

Wake Forest will begin the Dave Clawson era with a Thursday night road game at Louisiana-Monroe at 7 p.m. on ESPNU. The Deacons’ home opener will be on Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m. against Gardner-Webb on ESPN3, followed by a 7 p.m. home game on Sept. 13 against Utah State on CBS Sports Network.

Also of note for East Carolina fans, the Pirates’ nonconference game against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Sept. 13 will kick off at noon and will be televised by either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

The ACC also announced that for the fifth straight year, its annual championship game will be played in prime time. The title game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6 in Charlotte and will begin at either 7:45 p.m. on ESPN or 8 p.m. on ABC.

The rest of the ACC’s starting times will be announced on a week-to-week basis once the season begins.